McQuarrie’s Persons Unknown Fills out Cast and Director

I like Christopher McQuarrie. I’m a fan of Christopher McQuarrie. He’s the unsung hero of “The Usual Suspects” in my opinion. Bryan Singer gets all the glory, but McQuarrie makes that thing go. If you haven’t seen his crime opus “Way of the Gun”, you are missing out on one of the best gunplay movies of all time. McQuarrie’s latest is a TV series called Persons Unknown for Fox TV, about a group of strangers who wake up in the middle of nowhere with no memories of how they got there, and must work together to solve the mystery. Variety now reports that the show has filled out its cast, and set a director for the pilot.

Michael Rymer, who helmed the pilot to the critically acclaimed “Battlestar Galactica,” has been tapped to direct the first episode of “Persons Unknown.” Project, a co-production with Mexico’s Televisa and Italy’s RAI, starts shooting Monday in Mexico City.

Series has an initial 13-episode order and will star Jason Wiles (“Third Watch”) as Joe. Also newly cast: Daisy Betts (below), who will play Janet; Tina Holmes (“Six Feet Under”) as Moira; Sean O’Bryan (“Vantage Point”) as Blackham; and Lola Glaudini (“Criminal Minds”) as Kat.

Michael Rymer got a lot of cache after directing the Battlestar Galactica pilot, but then again, who doesn’t? You show Hollywood your BSG credentials, and they think you’re hot stuff. I personally thought Rymer’s directing style is ridiculously retarded. All that unnecessary zooming and what have you. The mark of a director who wants to top the story, in my opinion.

But in any case, the show itself sounds intriguing, even if the cast doesn’t exactly get me all excited. Really, they couldn’t get at least one person who will draw in an established fanbase for this show? It’s hard enough to get people committed to a serialized TV show (how many of those have failed over the last two years? I’ve lost count), but McQuarrie sure isn’t helping himself with his mostly unknown cast. Jason Wiles (aka the hot-headed Bosco on Third Watch) is pretty much the only person I’ve seen on TV before, and luckily, I’m a fan of his, also.